PLANTING CORALS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND SEA LEVEL RISE ADAPTATION: INCORPORATING LOWTECH REEF RESTORA

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PLANTING CORALS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND SEA LEVEL
RISE ADAPTATION INCORPORATING LOW-TECH REEF
RESTORATION APPROACHES INTO COMMUNITY-BASED
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

• Austin Bowden-Kerby, PhD
• Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific
  International bowdenkerby_at_connect.com.fj
• Presented at ITMEMS 2, March 24-27, 2003 Manila
  

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Coral Reef Degradation and Climate Change

• Carbonate accretion and upward growth of reefs is
  dependent on coral and reef health
• The sand cycle is dependent on bioeroding species
• parrot fish and sea urchins
• Alternate steady states on degraded reefs
  prevent larval and adult coral recovery
• broken coral rubble from blast fishing, mining,
  etc.
• silt-covered areas from soil erosion
• algal overgrowth on reefs from severe
  over-fishing
• COTs, urchin, and snail infestations due to
  ecological imbalances

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Problems causing reef decline

• Muddy run-off from deforested land
• Severe over-fishing
• Crown-of-thorns starfish infestation
• Blast fishing
• Boat anchors, trampling, net damage, etc.
• Dredging for coral gravel and sand
• Chronic sewage and rubbish pollution
• Harvesting of corals for the lime, curio, and
  aquarium trades.
• All of these result in lowered reef accretion

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Coral Destruction and the Pressing Need for
Management Tools

• anchor damage
• trampling
• blast fishing
• coral harvesting
• May leave behind unstable substrata that do not
  easily regain coral populations

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Community Participation and Increased
Understanding
Awareness Building and Management Planning by the
Customary Resource Owners
1999 8 workshops 2000 4 workshops 2001 9
workshops 2002 10 workshops
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Community-based Resource Monitoring
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Implementing Long-Term Solutions and Addressing
Land-Based Threats to Coral Reefs
Yanuca
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Establishment of Community-Based Marine
Protected Areas
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Crown-of-thorns Starfish Removal
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Coral Aquaculture as Economic incentive for
Conservation and to Replace the Destructive
Trades
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Mangrove Nursery and Replanting diri tabua to
Protect Village Shorelines
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Living Waters Wetland Treatment System
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Yanuca 1951
Where has all of the sand gone?
Eroded Main Beach
Stagnant water
Yanuca 2002
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Hydrology Restoration Workshops
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Wave Absorbing Fish Houses Cemented to the
reef flat and planted with heat-resistant corals
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Fish House Construction Burial in wet sand for
curing
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Fish House Ready for Deployment on the Reef Wires
inset in cement for tying corals to the structure
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Deployment by Hand onto the Reef Flat
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Temperature Tolerant Corals Planted on Fish
Houses- Absorb wave energy and protect the
beach- Provide stable habitat for growing
temperature tolerant corals - Provide fish
habitat and increased grazing potential
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Loose Corals Cemented to a Fish House
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Ephemeral Coral Populations of the Extreme
Shallows
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Coral Gardening to Increase the Survival of
Long-lived Massive Corals
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Competitive Overgrowth of Slow Growing Massive
Corals by Fast-growing Branching Secies
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Planting Corals to Enhance Coral Populations and
Increase Reef Growth in Non-recovering Areas
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Coral Transplantation to Enhance Reef Accretion
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REEF CREATION ON SAND for sheltered lagoonal
situations
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Recommendations for further work

• Using coral gardening methods to rescue
  temperature tolerant and slow-growing massive
  corals from situations of overgrowth, extreme
  shallows, and after severe bleaching events
• Constructing hollow wave absorbing fish house
  structures the reef flat to baffle the energy of
  increasing waves, and for planting temperature
  tolerant corals
• Re-establishing the sand cycle by increasing the
  abundance of key bio-eroding species (parrot fish
  and sea urchins) through habitat enhancement, and
  establishment of no-fishing areas
• Planting silt and freshwater tolerant Porites
  corals on silted reefs where conditions prevent
  larval recruitment but not adult survival
• Planting rapidly-growing (20-50cm/yr) staghorn
  Acropora corals in the sandy back reef to
  intercept and deposit sand being transported into
  lagoons, preventing its loss to the depths and
  widening reef flats
• Planting corals on the lagoon side (behind) atoll
  islands to build up a reef-flat base on which the
  islands can migrate in the event of overtopping
  by severe storms